Buried deep in PricewaterhouseCoopers' most recent Management Barometer survey on M&A activity were some interesting statistics.

The survey, which claimed that large U.S. multinational companies expect to increase M&A activity over the next two years, also stated that those acquisitions are getting closer scrutiny. Among the two areas that executives expect to spend more time on when screening deals: New corporate requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley, and internal controls and corporate governance practices.

We asked survey director Pete Collins what SOX requirements executives were most concerned with, but Collins told CW that the survey didn't delve into the regulations too deeply.

"It may be that a number of these large multinationals are contemplating acquiring a privately-held business," said Collins, "in which case the acquired entity's Sarbanes-Oxley compliance would become an important consideration."

Details on the survey are below:

  Download Details On The Survey (Charts Begin On Page 7)